Both the Sun and its sister paper New Times have received several awards from the California News Publishers Association's (CNPA) California Journalism Awards for reporting done in 2017.
The CNPA announced on April 14 that Sun Arts and Lifestyle Writer Rebecca Rose won first place with her humor column "Generation X-It," Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash won second place in the public service journalism category for her Aug. 27 cover story "No free rides," and Staff Writer Spencer Cole won second place both in the enterprise news category for his Nov. 2 cover story "Deer(ly) departed" and the local government coverage category for his Sept. 14 cover story "Failure to communicate." Executive Editor Camillia Lanham won third place in the in-depth reporting category for her June 22 cover story "Protect the plain."
Rose, Bubnash, and Managing Editor Joe Payne were all finalists in the categories for business news, youth and education, and enterprise reporting, respectively.
New Times writers were recognized for stories published in 2017, competing with other papers with similar circulation numbers. New Times Staff Writers Chris McGuinness and Peter Johnson won first place in the public service journalism category for coverage of sexual assaults in San Luis Obispo, Editor Camillia Lanham won second place in land-use reporting for her cover story "Affordability gap" and third place for in-depth reporting with her cover story "Balancing act," Johnson won second place in agricultural reporting with his cover story "Sucking air," and McGuinness took home third place in the writing category for his cover story "Cocaine hustle."
The New Times was also a finalist in the general excellence category.
